Fire Flakes
by orwinly
Summary: Poor Iroh. Who knew the snack could be so dangerous?


Author's Note: I do not own Legend of Korra or its characters. They belong to Michael DiMartino and Brian Koneitzko.

* * *

A nod and a polite, "Have a good evening," came from the General of the United Forces as he passed by the last employee exiting the factory. The man tipped his hat and smiled as a response, but a puzzled expression quickly took over his face as he saw his employer, looking a bit worse for wear with her overalls and hands and face stained with machine grease, being dragged by the hand by the General.

Asami also smiled at her employee when she passed by him.

"Have a good night, Shen. Enjoy the weekend!"

Shen held up a hand as he watched her get closer to the flight of stairs leading to the roof of the factory.

"Uh...ah you too Ma'am!"

Halfway up to the roof, Asami finally voiced out her curiosity.

"Iroh, what are we doing, and why exactly are we going to the roof?"

Iroh paused in his ascension to look back at his beloved with a quite boyish smile on his face.

"You'll find out."

As they reached the top, Asami saw a red blanket laid out near the edge of the roof with a large picnic basket placed in the middle. She raised a delicate eyebrow at Iroh.

"You brought me all the way up here, away from work, just to have a picnic?"

Iroh shrugged. "Asami, the latest Satomobile and Satoplane models were both successes in the market, yet you're still overworking yourself as if a new model is coming out tomorrow. You need a break."

Asami sighed, "Iroh, I'm fine. I can take care of myself. Plus, it's never too early to start on the next model. I was actually about to finish an upgraded motor before someone nicely pulled me-"

As if to strengthen Iroh's argument, Asami's stomach gave a particularly loud rumble, which had the Future Industries owner blushing with embarassment.

Iroh smirked and held out his right arm. "Shall we, my lady?"

Asami laughed. "But Iroh, I'm not dressed for a picnic," she said as she gestured to her messy work attire.

The General walked up to her and began to gently wipe away the grease on her face with his handkerchief. He then let her hair down from her ponytail, and finally placed a sweet kiss on her forehead.

"There, you look even more perfect."

Asami blushed. Yes, she was a very independent person, but it's really nice to be taken care of occasionally - and by a charming, kind, and handsome General-Prince no less. She linked her arm with Iroh's and proceeded to the picnic blanket.

The night wore on with the couple eating, being playful, laughing, and talking about mundane things - things like turtleducks, magic tricks, jazz music, swimming, and Meelo and Ikki's crazy antics. Soon, casual conversation transitioned into more serious territory like Iroh's family, the Forces' recruits, Asami's mother, and Asami's new adoptive family at Air Temple Island. It came down to just the two of them enjoying the other's presence. Before long, it was half an hour before midnight, and it was then that Asami suddenly remembered what seemed like trivial advice when she was six years old from her mother.

"My darling girl, when you choose whom to marry, make sure it is someone you never tire of having a conversation with. I believe that is what brings the most passion and success to a marriage."

It was only now, as she gazed at Iroh, that she realized the importance of the advice. Before he became her lover, Iroh was her most precious companion. They met as allies in the fight against Amon, bonded through their love of flying and machines and feelings of responsibility, and progressed to being good friends. He saw her at her lowest point and was there to watch and support her and her company's rebirth. In return, she saw him mourn his defeated fleet and rise up to be an even better General for the United Nations. He is her best friend. And she is so lucky to be in love with her best friend.

She was never a woman that thought much about relationships and marriage (her head was usually filled with gears, cars, and the company), but after two years of dating Iroh ideas of marriage and a family popped up more frequently in her mind. She couldn't keep the glowing smile off her face when she imagined Iroh and her, as husband and wife, with a three year old boy that looked exactly like Iroh, feeding turtleducks by the pond. As Iroh reenacted a particularly boisterous reaction of Commander Bumi, Asami shied away from those thoughts and tuned back in to the conversation, which came to the topic of dreams.

"Goodness is this what love does to a person?...Stupid." she thought.

Still, Asami wouldn't mind if she got married now, despite just being twenty-five years old. Being called Iroh's wife and her calling him her husband put a stupidly giddy smile on her face.

To stop herself from further embarassment, Asami focused on eating the fire flakes they were currently snacking on.

"So, Asami, any recent dreams you wish would come true?"

While still munching on the fire flakes, she replied, "Um...I had this dream that racing cars was an official sport in the four nations. There were championships and medals and everything. It would be nice if that came true."

Iroh laughed. "I bet you'd win every single one of those medals. Anything else?"

At this, Asami blushed scarlet red. "W-well yes...this one dream -"

Suddenly, the dark sky above them lit up with many strings of lights shooting across the starry expanse. It was a meteor shower.

"Oh!" Asami stood up and admired the phenomenon. "Iroh it's beautiful."

Iroh smiled softly at her before getting up as well and standing beside Asami. For a few minutes, there were only silence and awe from the couple. As Asami continued watching the shower and eating fire flakes, she broke the silence.

"What about you Mister General? Any dreams lately?"

Iroh gave a small smirk. "Not much...but there is one that I really hope would come true."

Asami turned her head to smile at him before looking back at the sights. Before eating a mouthful of fire flakes, she asked him, "And what's that?"

"Me becoming your husband."

Her mouth full of fire flakes, all Asami could say was, "Hm?!" She quickly turned to him, her bright green eyes wide with surprise, and found him, in all his wonderful and kind glory, down on one knee, holding up a simple golden band with a small ruby stone in the center.

Asami gasped. Actually, she choked. Honestly, those warm, gold, intense eyes, that symbolic stance, a ring - a ring! It was a ring for spirits' sake! A ring in a box being held out to her by her beloved Iroh. In short, her poor, exhausted brain short-circuited and she forgot that her mouth was full of spicy fire flakes; thus, instead of gasping, the powerful Asami Sato started choking on the snack which soon turned into a full blown coughing fit.

Iroh was shocked and panic set in immediately.

"Asami!" Iroh left the box on the ground and rushed to Asami's side, thumping her back and scrambling to get her some water.

While Asami was coughing it out and drinking water, Iroh was by her side looking distraught and shaken.

"A-Asami! Oh my goodness I'm sorry! I didn't plan it out to be like this believe me! I -"

"*Hack hack**Cough cough* Iroh... *Cough cough*"

"Oh my god! I almost killed you! I almost killed my potential future wife! I -"

"*Cough cough* Iroh...S-stop...*Cough cough*"

"I knew I shouldn't have brought fire flakes! I'm sorry! The proposal wasn't supposed to be like this. I-it -"

"Iroh! *Cough cough cough*"

That finally got the frantic Fire Prince's attention and stopped his ramblings. He turned to the woman of his affections and saw that her face was slightly flushed and her eyes were somewhat watery. Even after choking, Iroh thought she was the most beautiful woman he ever laid eyes on. This only made Iroh feel even more dejected. A pout made its way onto his face and his shoulders slumped even more.

So much for the perfect proposal.

Asami, meanwhile, couldn't stop the bubble of laughter rising from her chest. She finally burst into a bout of giggles, which made Iroh scowl at her and feel confused.

"It's not funny Asami! I almost killed you! I wanted to ask you in the most romantic way possible, but -"

Pausing from her laughter and wiping away her tears of mirth, Asami's voice softened and she responded to the man in front of her.

"Yes."

"Yes! Yes I almost killed you! This was so stupid of me. I-"

"No, Iroh. I mean yes."

"Yes? Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you."

Iroh stopped his rambling then. His surprised eyes turned to her. He smirked, took her hands in his, looked deeply into her eyes, and gave her a small smile.

"You know...I haven't actually asked you yet."

Stunned yet again, Asami looked angrily at him and pouted. Iroh laughed at this.

Then slowly, gently, he kissed her knuckles and leaned forward to touch their foreheads without breaking eye contact.

He asked in a soft, tender voice.

"Asami Sato, I love you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she breathed.

Their eyes closed and their lips touched and Asami realized one of her dreams was on its way to becoming true.

That made her truly smile.

"Got any more fire flakes in that picnic basket?"

Iroh smiled into the kiss.

"Shut up, Asami."

~fin~


End file.
